Nightmares are a variety of phenomena that have affected people’s sleep since ancient times — they are experiences that people seem to have — sensations, thoughts, and visuals occurring in a person’s mind during sleep — but whose cause, explanation, and reality are in question.

There is no definitive scientific explanation — because nightmares can be caused by and influenced by many different variables. Even what you had for dinner can affect your dreams.

However — according to the American Psychological Association — the primary cause of most nightmares is stress — anxiety and fear — the emotional and mental strain from experiencing adverse or demanding circumstances in your life. And according to Harvard Medical School — around 50% to 80% of adults experience an occasional nightmare — with about 35% to 45% experiencing a nightmare once a month — and with about 5% to 8% of the population suffering from Nightmare Disorders — frequent disturbing dreams that disrupt their sleep.

What science may or may not tell you is that stress isn’t just your own emotion and mind — because emotion and mind emit subtle vibrational etheric forces that can affect others. That’s why you can “feel” when someone is angry. It’s in their subtle vibrational etheric force.

We’re living in a multidimensional arena — contending with the etheric forces, projections, and vibrations of the world around us — all traveling through the daily sensory overload of physical activity, cars, cellphones, lights, people, sensations, screens, smells, sounds, and even tastes — all contributing to a person’s stress levels — therefore contributing to potential nightmares.

An occasional nightmare is no big deal — it’s just your own subconscious mind processing the emotional and mental strain from the circumstances in your life — so that you can rejuvenate yourself physically, emotionally, and mentally. That’s what dreaming and sleeping do.

Consistent or recurring bad dreams or nightmares are usually a sign of the emotional and mental strain from the circumstances in life that someone isn’t facing or handling properly — which need to be addressed, acknowledged, and resolved — which causes the bad dreams and nightmares to go away — and healthy sleep returns.

Even your job, boss, or customers can cause you nightmares, which is why vacations make you feel better. It’s called proper “Rest & Relaxation” or “Rest & Recuperation” — ie. Rejuvenation.

Intense nightmares, sleeping disorders, and sleep terror episodes of being attacked are usually a sign of either experiencing extreme circumstances and pressures in life, substance abuse, or mental disorders that may even require diagnosis and treatment by a professional psychiatrist, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or even worse, schizophrenia.

You Need to Understand This — especially if you’re on the spiritual journey — because if you are practicing things like meditation, qigong, trance states, or yoga — you are basically training the neural oscillations in your brain to transition from alpha rhythms (waking state) into theta and delta brainwave rhythms — which are experienced during the natural rejuvenation process of sleep and deep sleep.

Why is that important or relevant?

Nightmares, night terrors, sleeping disorders, and sleep paralysis — All Occur During the NREM (Non-Rapid Eye Movement) Deep Sleep State of the Delta Rhythm.

Things like meditation, qigong, trance states, and yoga induce Inner Calmness — because theta and delta brainwave rhythms rejuvenate the body, mind, and spirit — and training yourself to be consciously awake at those levels allows a person to consciously and properly process their internal stress — the emotional and mental strain from the circumstances in their life — as well as process the inner negativity of their subconscious programming.

During the various experiences of nightmares, night terrors, sleeping disorders, and sleep paralysis — the person also enters the NREM (Non-Rapid Eye Movement) Deep Sleep State of the Delta Rhythm — while experiencing sensations, thoughts, and visuals of the unprocessed emotional and mental strain within their subconscious mind — primarily anxiety and fear — causing fantasies, hallucinations, and terrifying illusionary experiences.

The primary difference between entering trance states versus experiencing nightmares is in consciously and properly processing internal stress and the inner negativity of the human mind and subconscious programming — rather than becoming a victim to them. In one instance, you are consciously aware of entering that dreamlike trance state level for introspection — in the other instance, you are spontaneously and unintentionally awakening within it — frightened.

The mystic in meditation or trance states knows that they are perceiving energies, sensations, thoughts, symbology, and visual imagery related to their life circumstances and subconscious human mind — whereas the nightmare victim doesn’t.

The True Secret is in Discipline — Cultivating Inner Power, Perception, & Understanding.

The problem with people — especially in western society — is that they want things on a hurry up — they don’t necessarily want to do the work — they don’t necessarily want to put in the time that it takes to actually develop any inner power, perception, or understanding — they just want it handed to them — like the fast-food version in a paper sack.

But that is Not how Cultivating Inner Power, Perception, Understanding, or Wisdom works.

You have to Accept Responsibility for Yourself — Own Your Stuff — and Process Your Issues.

It comes down to Physical, Emotional, Mental, Philosophical, & Spiritual Discipline.

I’m explaining all of this, because I know people have experienced nightmares, sleep paralysis, or sleep terror attacks — but they don’t necessarily understand what is happening — which can be terrifying — because nightmares can seem very real to the individual experiencing them.

As much as 80% of the adult population experience occasional nightmares — as much as 45% experience a nightmare once a month — and as much as 50% of the population will experience sleep paralysis at least once in their lifetime — as many as 8% suffer from nightmare disorders — and as much as 90% of PTSD patients suffer from frequent recurring nightmares of trauma.

I hope by explaining a few of these things that it will help people — because I think that just by understanding some of these things — nightmares go away to where a person can experience healthy dreams, rest, and sleep — simply from The Healing Power of Understanding.

As mentioned, the occasional nightmare is just your own subconscious mind processing the emotional and mental strain from the circumstances in your life — so that you can rejuvenate yourself physically, emotionally, and mentally. That’s what dreaming and sleeping do.

Sleep Paralysis may just be the observance of a natural physiological protection — because the body’s motor skills shut down when you sleep. It’s known as muscle atonia (paralysis) — and it’s a natural protective neurological function that prevents the body from acting out dreams to keep you safe from harming yourself or others — which is vital.

However — awakening during muscle atonia (paralysis) frightens a person — because of the lack of motor skills — it’s like being trapped inside your own body, unable to move — which often causes them to panic with anxiety and fear — causing irrational ideas and thoughts — dreamlike fantasies, hallucinations, and terrifying illusionary experiences — because the person is also still in the NREM deep sleep state at the same time — and people often report experiencing the sense of an intruder or predator in the room — manifestations of their fear.

The secret of course is to relax into it — remain consciously aware — remember that you’re experiencing muscle atonia — and you begin to regain your motor skills as you fully awaken.

Just by understanding that — the paralysis can stop — because when the fear alleviates — so does the paralysis — because fear itself can be totally immobilizing — but if you experience repetitive sleep paralysis — then you should seek professional medical help — because severe cases of sleep paralysis can be linked to certain diseases or disorders.

That space between sleep and wake (the hypnopompic state) is the “Threshold Consciousness” where hallucinations, imagination, and lucid dreaming occur — including a variety of illusionary sensory experiences — such as alien abduction, demonic attack, grotesque creatures, sexual garbage, shadow people, or the Old Night Hag mentioned in European folklore stories — and almost every single culture has some kind of version of it — but the imagery varies based on cultural programming and the individual experiencing them.

The word “nightmare” even comes from the old folklore stories — that existed prior to people understanding human psychology — the mind and its emotional and mental functions that affect basic behaviors, experiences, and perceptions — and many people still don’t understand it — and many people probably never will — because perception and understanding are rare.

If the Imagery in Nightmares Varies by the Cultural Programming and Individual — Then What Does That Mean?

It Means that the Experience is Relative and Subjective to the Beliefs, Fears, Ideas, Opinions, Thoughts, Views, and Programming of the Individual Experiencing Them — It Means that the Experience is Unique to the Individual — Not Necessarily Absolute, Actual, Factual, or True.

It seems very real to the person experiencing the nightmare at the time — because sensations, thoughts, and visuals occurring in a person’s mind during sleep can be intense — but that doesn’t necessarily mean that those perceptions are accurate, real, or true — which is why the person experiencing a nightmare usually wakes up totally dazed and confused.

Nightmares and Sleep Disorders often coincide with Displacement — the unconscious transfer of intense emotions from the original object of a person’s concerns to someone or something else — which means that the person may be experiencing anxiety and fear — the emotional and mental strain from experiencing adverse or demanding circumstances in their life — but they may be experiencing dreamlike fantasies, hallucinations, or terrifying illusionary things about someone or something else instead — that have absolutely nothing to do with any of it at all — and severe cases are dissociative disorders that require psychiatric attention.

Dreams and Nightmares are a collage and combination of hallucinations, imagery, imagination, sensations, thoughts, and visuals from the subconscious mind — which often make absolutely no sense at all — because it’s a process of the mind unwinding stress to rejuvenate itself.

Another thing that most people don’t quite understand are “Psychosomatic Forces” — where a person’s own anxiety and stress can create self-generated sensations — some of which can even lead to physical illness — it’s the interaction between the mind and body that can create symptoms — because the human mind is a powerful thing — even if a person doesn’t have any real discipline or understanding.

On the positive side — you have to understand that “Threshold Consciousness” — that space between sleep and wake — is also where a person can experience creativity, imagination, learning, memory, and visualization — people like Beethoven, Isaac Newton, Nikola Tesla, and Thomas Edison have all mentioned using the hypnopompic state to enhance their creativity and innovation — and visionary ability occurs within that space.

But you may have to face and transcend your anxiety and fears — in order to experience it.

As mentioned — things like meditation, qigong, trance states, and yoga are good for you — because entering theta and delta brainwave rhythms can rejuvenate the body, mind, and spirit — which helps induce an Inner Calmness — allowing the person to consciously and properly process their internal stress in a healthy and safe way.

Inner Calmness and Inner Power are basically the same thing — Inner Efficiency.

Ok — this little article is starting to get a little bit long — but if the “Threshold Consciousness” of the “Hypnopompic State” can induce inner calmness, cognitive improvements, creativity, imagination, innovation, learning, memory, and visualization — as well as fantasies, illusions, hallucinations, or terrifying visionary experiences — Then What Does That Really Mean?

It means that the difference between the Mystic versus the Nightmare Victim is in the Quality of their Perception, Psychological Sophistication, and Metaphysical Maturity and Understanding — a variance between Discipline & Experience versus A Lack Thereof.

It comes down to the Quality of the Consciousness of the Individual and whether or not they are taking things into a Light or Dark place within themselves.

Quick Recommendations for Transcending Your Nightmares:

— Stretch Every Day — because stress and tension store in your muscles — stretching releases it — as well as keeps your bones, fascia, muscles, and tendons healthy and fit.

— Exercise Daily or Several Times a Week — because exercising helps you feel strong and vital — the opposite of anxiety and fear — sedentary lifestyles destroy a person’s body, mind, and spirit — (the amount and type of exercise a person needs is relative to the individual).

— Practice Martial Arts — it builds confidence — the opposite of anxiety and fear.

— Maintain Hydration & Nutrition — because dehydration and malnutrition literally destroy your body and brain on a cellular level — causing unconscious anxiety, confusion, and fear.

— Meditate Daily — because it allows you introspection and space to process the emotional and mental strain from the circumstances in your life — to where they don’t build up.

— Spend Time in Nature — it disengages you from the daily sensory overload of the outside world — alleviating anxiety and stress — and you could use the fresh air and sunshine.

— Avoid Social Media — or at least limit the amount of time that you use it — because the constant neural stimulation of information technology only adds to anxiety and stress levels.

— Avoid the News — the constant bombardment of fear and negativity only adds to anxiety and stress levels — about things that you are powerless to do anything about — it’s futile.

— Open & Hold the Door Open for People — that may sound funny — but you may just find that spreading a little common courtesy, happiness, and smiles — relieves anxiety and stress in yourself and others — and the world needs more of it.

— Tip the Waitress — she has just as much anxiety and stress as you do.

— Avoid Gory Horror Movies — especially before bedtime — use your basic common sense.

— Avoid Drugs & Recreational Drug Use — especially with people who play mind games.

— Stay Away from Psychedelic Parties — because psychedelics take a person’s brain into the NREM Delta Rhythm State — causing fantasies, illusions, hallucinations, or terrifying visionary experiences — while they are awake with their eyes wide open — as well as opens a person up to the creepy energy of others — not good.

Sacred Plant Medicines are for Sacred Ceremonies — NOT Parties.

— Avoid Porn — if you fill your head with sexual degradation, filth, and perversion — what do you think would happen to your dreams at night? — use your common sense.

— Avoid Sexual Fantasizing — you can’t complain about sexual nightmares and intruders — if you are intentionally generating and summoning fantasies of them — use your common sense.

— Stop Fantasizing About Me — Your Delusions & Fantasies are Your Delusions & Fantasies — Not Mine — So Stop — Don’t Displace or Transfer the intense emotions from the adverse or demanding circumstances in your life — onto me — or anyone else for that matter.

That may sound arrogant or strange, but I’ve had students mention those dreamlike fantasies, experiences, and/or nightmares to me before — and once I explain everything mentioned in this article to them — their dreamlike fantasies, experiences, and/or nightmares STOP — because the experience is relative and subjective to their own individual mind — not mine.

Once you’ve been shown a solution and understanding — you can’t push things onto others.

Do you see? — Evolve.

If you are experiencing intense recurring nightmares, night terrors, sleeping disorders, or sleep paralysis — seek professional psychiatric assistance or a medical professional.

Remember — the primary cause of most nightmares is anxiety and stress — the emotional and mental strain from experiencing adverse or demanding circumstances in your life — Not Mine.

I dream about trees, forests, and mountain temples — flowing rivers, streams, and mountain lakes — Kung Fu — landscape and gardening — walking my dogs with my wife — or whatever creative project I’m working on at any given moment — or visions of world events — Not You.

OK — that’s enough for now — and I hope this helps people in some way.

Sweet Dreams & Peaceful Journeys to You.

Be Good and Be Safe.

Sincerely,
Khris Krepcik

© 2026 – Khris Krepcik
www.thehoodedsage.com. All Rights Reserved.

Artwork: The Nightmare (Henry Fuseli, 1781), Detroit Institute of Arts

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Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only. This information is not meant to diagnose, cure, or treat any disease. For diagnosis, questions, or medical advice about your health — consult a medical professional. Use your common sense and discretion. We are not responsible for any actions taken by the information provided.

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